Choker hook



W 11959 J. M. CHEVALIER 2,505,883

CHOKER HOOK Filed Jan 2, 1948 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented May 2, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHOKER HOOK John M. Chevalier, Port Angeles, Wash.

Application January 2, 1948, Serial No. 280

7 Claims. 1

This invention relates to choker hooks for use in logging operations, and is an improvement over the hook which I illustrate and describe in Letters Patent of the United States issued to me February 4, 1941, and numbered 2, 30,676. The general object is to devise a hook presenting twin bills adapting themselves to selective usage for the quick and easy attachment of the terminal eye of a choker line, and which, in consequence of said selective employment of the bills, gives to the hook unusual versatility in the manner of its application. The hook of the present invention is one which causes the tip ends of the bills to be forwardly directed and hence allows the leading end of a second choker line to be attached to the other of the two bills, a hook designed to embody a reeveway for the passage of the choker line therethrough and which by pull force imparted to the line inherently positions the hook upon the log in such a manner as to locate the bills on lines diagonal to the longitudinal axis of the log, and a hook which may be reversibly applied to enable the diagonal line of the bills to be pointed toward either side of the log selectively. The book of the invention is further peculiarized in its generally advanced designing serving to produce guarding instrumentalities for the tips of the bills precluding the same from hanging up, efiectively protecting the hook-attached eyes of the choker lines against chafing wear, and assuring a stable positioning of the hook upon the log.

The invention consists in the novel construction and in the adaptation and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is a plan view illustrating a choker hook constructed in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention and shown as having been applied in securing a choker-cable to a log, the cable and the log being shown fragmentarily.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the hook taken to an enlarged scale and with parts broken away and shown in section, a fragmentary showing of the cable being likewise incorporated in this view.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section on the jogged section line 3-3 of Fig. 2, and portraying by dotted lines the manner in which an eye formed upon the lead end of a second chokercable is applied to the hook.

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section on line 4-4 of Fig. 3 with the cable deleted; and

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but taken to a somewhat smaller scale and illustrating the manner of applying several said choker hooks each to a respective one of a severalty of ganged logs.

With reference being had to said drawing, the numeral 6 generally denotes the body of my improved hook, and which is a steel forging or casting formed in one piece to an approximately rectangular plan configuration, and made with a central opening 1 boxed in along the sides by flanking Walls 8 and 9 and along the ends by a head wall H and a foot wall l2. The head Wall presents a transverse bore [3 serving as :a reeveway for the cable M. The foot wall is in the nature of a web reduced somewhat from the thickness of the flanking walls at its points of juncture with the latter, and having this web semi-parabolic in sectional configuration or which is to say produced to suggest the major section of a conoid locating the flat side outermost. At a point substantially central to the width of this web and extending forwardly therefrom along the major axis of the body, one stemming from the top and the other from the bottom face of the web, there are provided a pair of horn-like bills [5 and I6, and these bills taper toward the toe or tip ends and have these tips hooked inwardly beyond the planes occupied by the top andbottom edges of the flanking walls 8 and 9. The throat described between the tip ends of the bills is suflicient to allow the cable, or which is to say the bite formed by a terminal eye 1? of the latter, to be readily introduced therethrough, and the spacing between the tip ends of the bills and the inner face of the head wall I l is such as to permit this bite to be fed freely into the throat.

The backs of the bills protrude prominently beyond the cable-seating top and bottom surfaces of the web, sufficient in fact to project well beyond the outer limit of a cable eye engaged over the bill. The purpose thereof is two-fold, firstly that of causing the prominence of the bill which lies upon the underside of an applied chokerhook to dig into the surface bark of a log and complement the choker action as a means of stabilizing the log-choking loop of the cable against endwise slippage, and secondly that of minimizing liability of an applied cable eye being chafed, either by the log itself in those instances Where the cable eye is applied over the bottomslde bill or by foreign objects in those instances Where the cable eye is applied over the topside bill. By arching the exposed prominences of the bills and otherwise generally stream-lining the body, the choker hook readily slips by obstructions encountered along the path of the logs travel.

The choker lines used with the present choker hook provide an eye upon each of the two ends and by passage of the line through the reeveway [3 of a related hook become permanently associated one with the other. When applying the hook, one end of the choker line is given a turn about the log and'the terminal eye hooked over one'ofthe two bills, it being usual to apply the eye to the upper or exposed bill. The other eye of the choker line is then coupled to the main drag line, which is customarily poweredgeither from a crawler-type tractor or from a stationary donkey, and as slack is taken upthe-chokerlineis drawn taut about the log. The choker "hook inherently positions itself upon the log much in the manner in which it is shown in Fig. 15am which is to say with the major axis of the hook disposedidiagonal tothe longitudinal axis of the -1og,l-1pointing-"either 'to theleft*orto the right according as to the direction in which the looping ethrow is initiated. 'Where it is desired todraw two; or more logs in ganged echelonf-separate *chokerlines'are employed in the manner indicated-in Fig;5;'looping' and hooking a following While I-ahave illustrated and described the -"inventi'on-inthe formwhich I believe best exem- 'plifiesit, it is to be expected that minor changes "-instructural' details may-be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention and I thereiore intend that the'hereto annexedclaims be giVen the broadest interpretation which the language fairly "permits.

What I 'claim"is:

A logging hook for usewith: a "choker line #havihga terminal eye, and"comprising a block 2 bo'dypresentinga central opening boxed in. along 'the'sides by'guardwalls and along the ends by footand' head wallsand Withthe headwall hav- J'ing' a'reeve-way extending transversely there- "throughfor thefpassage of the'choker line,'--the hook: being'provided with twin longitudinally extending bills adapted to be selectively "engaged '{bythe'eyeiof'the'choker line'and made integral with the foot wall to extend therefrom toward --the"head' wall along them'ajor axis of theblock one atthe front and the otherat the back of the block-and with the tips 'of said bills lying within theguarded limits prescribed by thetop and bottom surfaces of the side walls. -2. A logging hook for use with a ohoker'line -having a terminal eye, and comprising a block ,body presenting a central opening boxed in along the sides by guard walls and along thebiids by ffpot and head'walls andwith'the' head w'an havjing'a reeve-way extending transversely there- "through for the passage of the choker line, the hookbeing provided "with twin longitudinally 1 of theside walls.

'3. A logging hook for use with" a choker line having a terminal eye, and comprising a block *body presenting a central opening boxed in along thesides by guard walls and along the ends by foot and head walls and with the head wall hav- "inga' "reeve way extending transversely therethrongh: for the 'passage of the choker line, the

hook being provided with twin longitudinally extending bills adapted to be selectively engaged the head wall along the major axis of the *block one at: the front and the otherat theba'ckof the block, the backs of'said biils being ar-ched and protruding prominently beyond planesoccuvpiedby the 'topand bottom" limits of the-"side Walls with the "tips hooked inw'ardly and'termihating within the guarded '-limits-'d'escribed"between said planes.

.4. The logging hook of claim-B in-which the "root wall'is'cut away at opposite sides'bf Ithe ro'ot ends o-f the' bills to form rec'essed' 'seatsfor the choker eye and wherein the-archedprorninen'oes 5. The logging hook 'of claim"- 3 in which the foot wallf sectionally-considered, .suggests"the "majorsection of a conoide'placihgv the fl'atside outermost.

6 "A logging hook for use'with a; choker line having a terminal eye and-"comprising a block body presenting 1 a "central opening flahked* by guard-walls with -me'ansbeing provided at the head end of 'the 'block' to establish' slip engagementwith the' choker line proper?and at the 1 othere'nd providing a fcotwall jo'ining saidfiank- "'ing walls," the hook being provided with twin bills adapted to he selectively' eng agd by the' :eye of the'cho'ker' line and inade integral with the foot wall to" extend longitudinally therefrom along the major axis of the block towa'rd the head end "of the tips of "said bills filying within the: guarded limits prescribed byathe top-andbottomsurfaces "of the side wa'lls.

7. The logging hook "of claim fiin whichthe backs of said bills'are arched andp'rotrudepromin'ently beyond "plane's occupied by the 'frent 'and back limits of the side walls.

Number Y Chevalier 1;" Feb": 1411941 

